Jew
A Jew is a person who is of Jewish heritage (a member of one or more of the twelve tribes). Contrary to popular belief, a follower is Judaism is not known as a Jew, but rather as a Judaiser. Therefore, while there are Jewish Judaisers, an actual "Jew" is not necessarily one that practices the religion of Judaism, but it is one who is of Jewish ethnic heritage. According to traditional Jewish law, called Halakha, someone is Jewish if their mother was a Jew or if they have converted to Judaism. In modern times, a large percentage of Jews are apostates and/or atheists. Jews have been victims of various persecutions. While the same was true for many other nations prior to the time period of the New Testament, after the first century Jews were increasingly persecuted because they were blamed for the death of Jesus Christ. The fact that the Islamic Koran refers to Judaistic Jews (and Christians) as "infidels" did not help Jews' reputation in the eyes of Europe and the Middle East. Even today, as a result of the reinstatement of Israel, some Middle Easterners (particularly those influenced by Islam) feel that the land Israel occupies was stolen from the Arabs who had lived there for over 1800 years. One of the most well known acts of hatred committed against Jews occurred in the Second World War, when almost six million Jews were killed in the Holocaust. The word "Jew" is widely believed to have been derived from one of the most prevalent of the twelve tribes, the tribe of "Judah". History According to the book of Genesis, of the Old Testament, The Jewish ethnicity (as well as the religion of Judaism) began with a man named Abram who lived in the city of Ur. According to the Midrash, Abram strongly believed that the people in Ur were wrong to pray to different gods and statues. He believed that there was really only one god, as well as that he was not a statue. The Torah tells that God spoke to Abram and told him to leave Ur with his family and move to Canaan, where he started a new religion. God told him that his name would be changed from "Abram" to "Abraham." The Midrash also says that angels taught Abraham a new holy language, which Jews believe is the language today known as Hebrew. Hebrew continues to be the language of Judaism. Abraham's grandson Jacob is said to be the one who first had the name of "Israel". When the Jews were turned into slaves in Egypt, God told Moses to ask for the 12 tribes of Israel to be freed. Pharaoh said "No" time and again, but each time he did, God sent many terrible punishments to the Egyptians to make him to free the Hebrews. Finally, the Pharaoh let the Hebrews go free, but then decided to send the Egyptian army to capture the Jews back. To help them escape God commanded the Red Sea to open a path for them. The waters then returned and drowned the Egyptian army. The Torah says that after this, Moses met with God on Mount Sinai and received the Ten Commandments and the Torah from God. The Hebrews or Israelites, in twelve tribes, began a country called Israel in Canaan. They fought many wars against other peoples in the area. Later, the nation of the Jews, or "Judah," was conquered by Babylonia in the early 6th century BC, and its people were taken captive. They were only allowed to return to Judah when Babylon was conquered by Persia. Some Jewish people stayed in the area of Babylon (now Iraq) and others also lived in other countries.